漢字無疑地是漢語最迷人的方面之一，但同時也是最讓漢語學習者(除了來自日本和韓國的之外)傷腦筋的部份，有些學習者甚至無視漢語的書寫及閱讀，僅僅想要集中於聽、說兩方面。更為嚴重的是，其亦為最容易讓諸多學習者完全放棄學習漢語的原因，也同時被大多數的教材漠視。近年來，漢字教學的研究迭有進步，不過具有規則性的全面性漢字教學方法尚未出現。本文的目標，為提出屬於具有規則性的全面性漢字教學方法的基楚，即以教學為主的漢字分析結構。何必需要另外一個分析漢字的結構? 根據心理學家和記憶專家肯尼斯‧西格比教授(Kenneth L. Higbee Ph.D.)的主張，學習者能夠記憶一項資料的最重要因素為資料對學習者有意義，所以提高學習者對於各個漢字的理解，便等於提升其學習生字的效果。漢語教師往往將分析字的字形視為「太難」或中文系的教授才做得到的事，主要的原因有兩個：一、一般漢語母語者不是以分析字形的方式來學習字的，因此也沒有分析字的習慣。二、運用許慎在《說文解字》中所提出的六書來分析字形實際上很難，是因為在其六個種類的定義中，有的不夠清楚，舉例來說，學界對於「轉注」的異說甚多，裘錫圭在《文字學概要》提出九種有代表性的不同說法。此外，六書的類別其間有重疊之處及微妙之差異，如詹鄞鑫在《漢字略說》提到的「意符兼表讀音」的會意字，與「聲符具有表意功能」的形聲字，這種細節雖然對進行文字學研究的學者來說十分重要，但對第二語言學習者是個過重的負荷，由此可知，傳統六書不適合對外的漢字教學。合乎漢字教學的分析字形結構要有邏輯性和一致性(consistency)，要簡單、簡潔，並符合漢字的本質。本文所提出的結構以三種字(即表意字、音意字和記號字)以及四種部件的功能(即表音、以形表意、以義表意和以形代替)而成。這種分析字形的結構不僅容易掌握，也能夠使學習者更瞭解各個字的字形，即義符(或形符)和聲符的作用，也同時提高其對於以漢字為系統的理解、培養其猜測生字的讀音和字義的能力，以及提升其對於漢字的憶起能力(recall)。

The writing system is certainly one of the most fascinating aspects of the Chinese language, but at the same time, it is also one of the most frustrating aspects for learners (with the exception of learners from Japan and Korea), causing many students to focus solely on the speaking aspect of Chinese. Even worse, the writing system is virtually ignored by most learning materials and teachers and is one of the main reasons learners abandon their study of the language altogether. In recent years, Chinese character pedagogy has made some strides, but a holistic and systematic pedagogical method has yet to appear. The aim of this paper is to present the basis for such a method, that is to provide a learning-centered conceptual framework for understanding Chinese characters that can act as the basis for a holistic and systematic pedagogical method.Is there really a need for yet another conceptual framework for Chinese characters? According to psychologist and memory expert, Dr. Kenneth L. Higbee, the most important factor for effective memorization is that the learner understands that which is to be memorized. Therefore, increasing the learner's understanding of each individual Chinese character to be learned is tantamount to increasing the effectiveness of their learning. Analyzing the structure of Chinese characters has long been seen by most teachers as "too difficult." The main two reasons for this are: 1. the average Chinese native speaker did not learn characters by way of analysis and thereby is not in the habit of analyzing them; and 2. using the Six Principles Theory (六書 LiùShū), the traditional framework presented by XǔShèn (許慎) in the Shuōwén Jiězì (說文解字), to analyze characters is indeed quite difficult due to overlapping categories which are not clearly defined. For example, even in the academic world, explanations of what the Derivative Cognate (轉注 Zhuǎnzhù) category is exactly vary greatly between scholars. As Mr. Qiú Xíguì (裘錫圭) points out in his book Chinese Writing (文字學概要 Wénzìxué Gàiyào), there are at least nine different theories as to what this category is. In addition, the differences between some categories are quite subtle, Mr. Zhān Yínxīn (詹鄞鑫), in his book A Few Words about Chinese Characters (漢字略說), points out the difference between an associative compound (會意字) for which one of the meaning components also expresses sound and a phono-semantic compound (形聲字) whose sound component also expresses a meaning. While this type of difference may be very important to a researcher, to a second language learner, it is a huge burden. As such, it is obvious that the traditional framework for analyzing characters is not suitable for language pedagogy. A conceptual framework which is suitable for teaching Chinese characters must be logically consistent, simple, concise and be consistent with the nature of the characters themselves. The framework presented here has three types of characters (meaning characters, sound-meaning characters and symbols) and four types of character components (sound components, components which express meaning by their form, components which express meaning by their meaning and components which act as a substitute for an earlier form). This conceptual framework is not only easy to grasp, but it also helps the learner to truly understand the form of each character, in other words, to understand how meaning components (or form components) and sound components work. At the same time, the framework helps learners to understand the system of Chinese characters as a whole, fosters learners' ability to guess at the sound and meaning of characters they have not yet learned and increases their ability to recall characters they have already learned by triggering their memory with sound and meaning clues.

• 李艾希(國立台灣師範大學華語文教學研究所) | Ash HENSON